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Some of them that I see are definitely "unskilled"..........You do NOT drive an 18 wheeler on an interstate and cross the center line while texting on your cell phone.............
I think truckers are grossly underpaid and its terrible. Without truckers, we'd be sunk. Too many people disrespect the trucking industry, not understanding that it is truly the backbone of our lives. Just because someone is a new driver doesn't mean they should be paid slave wages.
Something tells me that certain large retailers, like Wal-Mart will start automating some of the processes of trucking. I know Europe has already started to experiment with driverless trucks.
Location: Live:Downtown Phoenix, AZ/Work:Greater Los Angeles, CA
27,606 posts, read 14,610,214 times
Reputation: 9169
Quote:
Originally Posted by KS_Referee
Truck drivers do NOT legally work 14 hours a day unless they have a 4 hour sleep in their bunk, and they certainly do NOT work 7 days a week. These things violate federal HOS laws. However there are a LOT of owner operators who make $100K a year and then some.
Like I said, trucking isn't for everyone. There are a lot of people who can't make it in the business for one reason or another.
As a driver (albeit local, not OTR anymore) I need to correct this.
I have my first day off in 3 weeks today before going back to work tomorrow, and even OTR, I would generally work 2 weeks straight without a day off. You just can't use more than 70 hrs of drive time in 8 days. And local, I use less than 4 hrs of drive time a day, so I could work every day for the rest of the year if I wanted.
And I do use my whole 14 most days I work, but it breaks down to about 3-4 hrs of driving and maybe 1-2 hrs on duty not driving, with the rest off duty (can't use sleeper berth in a day cab).
When I did drive OTR, I would generally only mark myself on duty for my pre-trip and post-trip, which would leave me 13 1/2 hrs where I could use my available 11 hrs of drive time. The only day I ever used all 11 was one day last year, I drove from Laramie, WY to Boise, ID in one day. Only breaking for a 30 and fuel in Evanston, WY.
Truck drivers do NOT legally work 14 hours a day unless they have a 4 hour sleep in their bunk, and they certainly do NOT work 7 days a week. These things violate federal HOS laws. However there are a LOT of owner operators who make $100K a year and then some.
Like I said, trucking isn't for everyone. There are a lot of people who can't make it in the business for one reason or another.
As with any regulations....... there are always ways to "juggle the books"
Do you see that day coming? Because I don't. Office people are getting screwed too, you know. Working 60-80 hours a week for the same amount we made 15 years ago. There is no OT; no vacation; no days off.
So if we continue to divide ourselves into 'us and them' - no one will EVER rise up.
That said - we've got even bigger problems. Retail workers are losing their jobs by the hundreds of thousands RIGHT NOW. Does anyone care about them?
Truck drivers will have their necks on the chopping block too - as they are busy perfecting those 'driverless cars". That will impact other industry as well, Uber, Taxis, Insurance.
theres a lot of truth here..........My wife works in healthcare........it would scare you silly to hear how THEY are cutting corners...........
Everything corporation and politicians want foreign people for it is unskilled.
Here is the governments definition of skilled labor.
“Skilled workers” are persons whose job requires a minimum of 2 years training or work experience, not of a temporary or seasonal nature
Will it take you two years to train and get your cdl?
Location: Live:Downtown Phoenix, AZ/Work:Greater Los Angeles, CA
27,606 posts, read 14,610,214 times
Reputation: 9169
Quote:
Originally Posted by Ih2puo
Everything corporation and politicians want foreign people for it is unskilled.
Here is the governments definition of skilled labor.
“Skilled workers” are persons whose job requires a minimum of 2 years training or work experience, not of a temporary or seasonal nature
Will it take you two years to train and get your cdl?
You can generally only work for starter companies (or be an Owner/Op) with less than 2 years experience. Most good companies (hint:not Swift or CR England, etc) won't even consider hiring you with less than 2-3 years experience.
I doubt that many of the drivers are illegal, but many of them are overseas-born or foreign nationals (Mexican in the South and West, and Puerto Rican or French Canadian in the Northeast). Their command of English is often limited, complicated by the jargon unique to tucking; they sometimes rely too much on GPS, and it's when they encounter a situation away from the main highways that things can get crazy.
I retired about nine years ago. I use to make about $75K/yr as a Teamster driver. In the OP's original link there was a picture of the dock and oversea containers. Whenever I went to the rail yards in eastern NJ I encountered mostly drivers with a very poor command of English. I always wondered how they ever navigated our road system without comprehending all of our road signs? It scared me being on our roads even able to read the signs - just too many ways to get in trouble.
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